Some vehicles today are provided with lane keeping systems which are in the form of lane departure warning systems, which notify the driver of the vehicle in the event that the driver leaves his/her current lane. Such systems have several drawbacks. Many such systems notify the driver via audible means, which also notifies any passengers in the vehicle of the apparent driver error. Some drivers may feel embarrassed by the system's warnings and may thus be inclined to disable the system if possible.
Another drawback relates to when such systems act to notify the driver. Typically notify the driver only when the driver has already left the lane that he/she is in. At that time the vehicle's angle relative to the road may already be too large for the driver to have sufficient time to correct the vehicle's projected path to avoid veering off the road.
It would be advantageous to provide a lane keeping system that at least partially addresses at least one of the drawbacks described above.
Furthermore, it would be advantageous in some situations to provide a vehicle with the capability to autonomously keep itself in a lane during driving.